The Lagos State High Court has ordered social media critic Martin Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, to remove defamatory content about lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz. The court has also ordered him to pay a fine of N500 million for libel. Justice M. O. Idowu issued the ruling on Tuesday in case number ID/8584/GCM/2024.
The court found that VeryDarkMan’s statements were defamatory and harmful to the reputation of both Femi Falana and his son, Falz. According to the judgment, the critic was aware that his claims were false but chose to publish them with the intent to damage their reputations.“The defamatory statements continue to trend on the defendant’s social media platforms, causing ongoing harm to the applicants’ reputation as long as the publications remain online.” Justice Idown said. The court has directed VeryDarkMan to immediately delete the offending content.
It would be recalled that the case arose from remarks and videos that VeryDarkMan posted on September 24, 2024, which wrongly associated the Falana family with controversial internet personality Bobrisky.
